Dental anxiety: How CBT might help support anxious patients

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which is described as a ‘synthesis’ of different concepts and theories, suggests that experiences can be shaped by existing beliefs and assumptions (Briers, 2009). It is further suggested that such beliefs may be a legacy or attitude passed on from another person (Briers, 2009). CBT can help a person to change their beliefs, or how they think, and change what they do, or how they behave, by making something that seems overwhelming into smaller, manageable parts that can be altered (RCPsych, 2012).

While the non-anxious patient believes, or ‘knows’, that nothing terrible or catastrophic happens at the dentist, the anxious patient does not share this ‘knowledge’. For the anxious dental patient therefore, the actual experience of the dental appointment is determined by the pre-existing belief, or assumption, that it will be both terrible and catastrophic. Any negative events which occur confirm the belief and contribute to ‘thinking errors’ such as generalising, filtering or magnifying (Henwood and Lister, 2007; Briers, 2009), as illustrated by the anxious patient who attends the dentist, as a last resort, and with a terrible toothache.